Painting 59

Kay Wyne gave me a roll of lifesavers at the studio. Kay is a former member of Studio Art and Soul and recently found representation with a gallery in Sante Fe. Being in a gallery on Canyon Road in Sante Fe is like winning the lottery for an artist and everyone at the studio was so proud of her and what she has accomplished. I am fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful talent and it really makes me a better artist because of it. The Lifesavers were a great gift since my last 2 paintings were candy. Lifesavers definitely remind me of my childhood and specifically, my childhood during the holidays. Does anyone remember those Lifesaver books they had during Christmas? It wasn't Christmas until you had your selection of Lifesavers in a book shaped box! I loved painting this and I am very pleased with the results, especially with the candy. It's shiny and sticky and I think I captured them perfectly. The foil of the candy roll was a fun challenge and I am pleased with the overall results. I was even more pleased when someone purchased the painting at our Studio's open house. I paint for myself, but I can't help but feel validated when strangers see fit to spend money on what I create. It's very satisfying and definitely motivates me. 

Painting 55

 

This painting is odd, yes. It was done for an online painting challenge. Karen Jurick, a really great artist, has a blog called Different Strokes from Different Folks where she hosts a painting challenge. She posts a photo for anyone to paint and then she posts the submissions. It's a lot of fun to see all the different styles and interpretations of the same subject matter, in this case wigs. Here's the link to see the different wig paintings. 

http://differentstrokesfromdifferentfolks.blogspot.com/2009/02/week-23-24-challenge-wigs.html

For a subject matter, this isn't what I would have preferred to spend my time painting, but I was anxious to participate in the challenge. I prefer the wig heads in the background over the featured wigs. The two on the left are my least favorite basically because I didn't do a very good job on the faces. I slipped out of my comfort zone on the colors and tried to be a little crazy instead of painting what was there. In the end, I do think the exaggerated colors work better, especially when you look at all the different paintings on Karen's blog. I don't care much for the orange in my painting. It's one of my favorite colors, but can be a challenge. Karen's use of color with the red is, in my opinion, the most successful of the bunch. My painting is destined for a second hand-store where it'll sit collecting dust, waiting for a buyer to come along and pay the $2.00 price to take it home. 

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